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This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (
Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural contact.
List of contents
Introduction: Literature and Memory, History and HistoriographyCultural Memory and the Íslendingasögur Íslendingasögur as Sources of History: The Debate Æthelstan, Æthelred and Knútr: A Historical Overview Chapter Overview Part 11 Narrative, Verse and MemoryThe Fear of Forgetting and the Value of Writing Cultural Memory and Medieval memoria Communicative Memory and Skaldic verse Memory and Literature 2 Saga Age EnglandEngland in the Íslendingasögur England in the skáldasögur: Egils saga England in the skáldasögur: Gunnlaugs saga, Bjarnar saga3 Iceland and the Writing of the ÍslendingasögurThe Íslendingasögur Corpus Saga Age Iceland Iceland in the Age of Saga Writing Part 24 Memories of Heroism: Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa Manuscript Contexts Bj¿rn's TravelsReconstructing a Chronology Thematic Intertextuality: Of Kings and Dragons 5 Memories of Rulers: Gunnlaugs saga ormstunguGunnlaugr's Travels The skáld in Literary Frameworks The skáld as Poet: The Hierarchies of Verse The skáld as Warrior: A Fabricated Narrative 6 Memories of Conflict: Egils saga SkallagrímssonarEgill's Travels The Battle of Brunanburh The Court of Eiríkr blóðøx in York Conclusion Interpretation and Reinterpretation Remembering England Bibliography
About the author
Matthew Firth is Australian Research Council Fellow (DECRA) and Associate Lecturer in Medieval History at Flinders University, Australia. His research focuses on historical narrative and its transmission across time and place with particular interest in the historiography of tenth- century England. Matthew's first monograph,
Early English Queens, 850- 1000: Potestas Regina, was published by Routledge in 2024. He is also the author of over twenty articles and book chapters focused on the development of medieval history writing traditions.
Summary
This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural contact.
